County Council Chairman Rudy Carter joked that Lancaster County is in good shape, considering “the shape we’re in.”

Acknowledgment of the hard economic times was at the forefront as various local elected officials talked about strides and plans during State of the Community 2009, held Tuesday morning at the Fairway Room at the Lancaster Golf Course.

The 2009 festival will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, with a presentation of the colors by the Indian Land High School JROTC color guard. There will also be an invocation and the national anthem will be played.

Barbecue, hot dogs, hamburgers, shaved ice and other food will be available. There will also be a street sale, which is an old-fashioned flea market.

Voters will go to the polls Tuesday for the special Democratic primary for Lancaster County Council’s District 2 seat.

Charlene McGriff and Blondale Funderburk are vying for the seat left by Fred Thomas, who stepped down to become a magistrate judge in June. There is a little more than a year remaining in Thomas’ County Council term.

Five polling places will be open Tuesday: Lancaster East, Lancaster West, Chesterfield Avenue, Gooches Crossroads and Erwin Farm. By law, residents can vote only at their precinct.

KERSHAW – World War II veterans from the Kershaw area, or Lancaster and Kershaw counties, will have the opportunity to see the World War II memorial in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 21.

But months before the trip, local World War II veterans will be recognized at a kick-off dinner. The dinner will be at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Kershaw First Baptist Church ministry center, 210 N. Matson St.

Lancaster County will kick off construction of its new courthouse with a groundbreaking ceremony Monday afternoon.

Slated for 4 p.m., the ceremony will be held at Main and Meeting streets.

The event will feature comments from several officials, including County Council Chairman Rudy Carter, Clerk of Court Jeff Hammond, Chief Justice of the S.C. Supreme Court Jean Toal and Mitch Norrell, president of the Lancaster County Bar Association. Sixth Judicial Circuit Court Judge Brooks P. Goldsmith will introduce Toal.